I have good usage from several of these devices installed in wooden door frames but I am now having trouble replacing the batteries after 15 months. Pulling the circuit board out to get access to the old battery and replace it turns out to be rather difficult. I have only managed to pull 1 out and 3 others seem to be stuck fast. I had drilled holes to the specified diameter but remember that it was a fairly tight fit to get the sensor in in the first place. I am using a pair of sharp-nosed pliers and I am worried about breaking the circuit board if I pull even harder.
Anyone else been through this and have any tips? I have emailed Aeon Labs support to ask their advice.
It seems rather expensive if replacing the battery ends up breaking the circuit board!
As a secondary question, for the one I managed to get out and replace the battery - I had to completely remove it from ST and add it back in as a new device. Just changing the battery didn’t allow ST to recognise it again. Is that normal?
I drilled the holes slightly larger since you just end up screwing them in place anyway.
I use needle nose to remove the board as well - but I don’t have any issue with it coming out when I pull. I don’t have one out to look at right now, but aren’ there grooves for the board? maybe when you installed them the board was not in the grooves correctly?
I haven’t experienced that. When you say remove - are you saying you did an exclusion and re pair? or just searched for the device?
There are grooves and I put the board into the grooves in the first place, I think. It was a tight fit though, both to get the outer shell into the hole and then to slide the board and battery into the grooves on the inside of the outer shell. My sense is that the outer is slightly distorted and making the board get wedged in. I had to pull fairly hard to get the one out but I hadn’t wanted to pull even harder on the others.
For the one where I had been able to change the battery, I tried to get ST to pair with it again but it found no devices. Eventually I did a remove which also does an exclude if I’ve got that right. Then I was able to pair it as a new device.
OK, Aeon support replied to my email rather promptly. They suggested squeezing the outer plastic casing to relieve the pressure on the circuit board. Not the easiest thing to do as the casing sits entirely inside the door frame but I used 2 small flat bladed screwdrivers pushed in-between the doorframe and the casing 90 degrees away from the slots for the board. Then with 2 pairs of needle nosed pliers and more force than I imagined the board could take, I was able to pull out the circuit board and replace the battery. At least on one I have tried so far. The board survived the experience and sprang back into life once it had a new battery. This time the device started working again immediately in ST without needing to remove it and add it back in again. Don’t know why that happened with the first one but never mind, I’ll get on with brutalising the others to change their batteries.
I have had to replace mine once. The plastic case slid out of the door jam easily. I over sized the hole. It doesn’t need to be tight for any reason. It’s not going anywhere.
I’d suggest over sizing the hole. I just pulled the while plastic case out. Put new battery in and dropped it back in the hole and put 1 screw back in.
Like a 5 minute evolution.
Note, my sensor is in the door top frame and magnet is in the door top.
4 of mine are in the top of hardwood French doors with the magnet in the frame above. I had to take the doors off the hinges to drill the holes since there wasn’t enough ceiling height to get the drill in from above. I used a 19mm drill bit as in the user guide, how I wish I had used 20mm. There is no way the plastic case is coming out again in one piece, I had to lightly tap it in with a plastic mallet. Sliding the circuit board out leaving the case in the door has, so far, been possible with 2 but still having trouble with the other 2 even after following Aeon’s advice of squeezing the casing. A fifth one was installed on another door later and its original battery is still OK.
I think the fitting instructions are plain wrong for the design of the device. I find it hard to imagine others not having the same issue unless everyone except me has the sense to make the hole oversize compared with the instructions.
I had the same exact issue this weekend with the board being hard to pull out. I feel it is a bit of a design flaw. At any rate, I was able to use needlenose pliers on the small board that sits above the main board (at least in my orientation it is above it). That board feels pretty safe to put a little pressure on with the pliers because there is no printed circuit board in it - rather its blank. Anyway with a little gentle tugging it came out. The bad things is that I had to replace this after just 6 months (only started using it for the first time 6 months ago. So having to remove this board like this every 6 months seems like eventually it may break.
Hopefully there will be a better product released or Aeotec will improve this user experience. Really don’t want doors sensors hangout out all around my house.
